


Keep Running

by Thestarontheleft



Category: Bandom, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Gen, Mikey Way - Freeform, Ray Toro - Freeform, frank iero - Freeform, gerard way - Freeform, what happens after the SING music vid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-05-21 06:10:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 11,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6041140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thestarontheleft/pseuds/Thestarontheleft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after the SING music video in the killjoy world - Party Poison and Fun Ghoul wake up believing the other half of their crew to be dead. Surrounded by dracs, they haul Jet Star's body into the Trans-Am but are forced to leave Kobra behind. As Jet wakes up, Poison realises Kobra must have too. And they've left him in Battery City. (waay better than it sounds promise)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Have you heard the news that you're dead?

The room’s silent. It’s empty, totally devoid of cameras or movement except for the table in the corner, with a white body bag on top of it. The ajar door in the corner slips in light, but the floor to ceiling window on one side of the room doesn’t let in any light, bar the distant orange glows off the tunnel from far out past the wall. This all would appear normal to a surveillance drac.  
Except, in this case, there’s no cameras.  
And the body bag’s started to move. 

 

Party Poison thrashes around, his chest heaving for air. His desperate arms can’t even stretch out, useless against the plastic, and his legs are kicking up a storm. All that’s going through his head is _get me out get me out get me outoutout;_ that’s his secret, the great flaw of the most famous killjoy.  
He’s claustrophobic.  
He’s starting to struggle for air too, and his right hand has reflexively clenched empty over where his blaster would usually sit, when his left foot makes a rip through the side of the bag. As fresh air seeps in through Party almost collapses with relief, then sets to work tearing up a hole in the rest of the plastic. 

 

Fun Ghoul wakes with a start. He has to clamp down his mouth to stop from screaming, and his left hand hangs useless, his thumb and forefinger severely burnt. His head is heavy, his dark hair hanging over his eyes and as he pushes it out of his face, he scans the room.  
And then he’s moving, scrambling for cover, pulling himself behind one of the large metal poles because the room is full of dracs.  
Lying there on the floor.  
Immobile.  
_Shit_ thinks Ghoul as he sees his blaster across the room. _There’s no way I’m getting out of this one._  
So he stands, prepares to face the dracs as a killjoy should, and turns, ready to yell as he goes down, when he stops. The dracs are still immobile – If Ghoul didn’t know any better, he’d say they were…  
_dead?_  
He moves to grab his blaster, making no sudden moves in case he disturbs one of the _unconscious?_ Dracs, but none of them stir. He makes at the door, cautiously moving between bodies, preparing to leave the building.  
But then he spies the blonde man on the floor with the red jacket and khaki singlet and all of a sudden he doesn’t care about waking the dracs, he doesn’t care about who could be watching, and instead he throws himself down beside the immobile, spread-eagled body of Kobra Kid.


	2. Come on!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Party and Ghoul find each other, and a few other things too

Party shoves the last part of the plastic bag away from his feet, and stands, surveying the room. He scratches at a lump in his neck below his chin, and suddenly it all comes rushing back.

Too fast.

Party staggers, and grabs onto the side of the table. Crossing the bridge, firing at dracs; the rescue was going fine until they were ambushed in the centre room. He remembers protecting Kobra’s back, remember Korse firing into his neck…

_Why aren’t I dead?_

Grabbing the knife out of his boot (they hadn’t found that weapon), Party moves towards the door, and pulls it towards him. The glass door moves easily, sliding without making any noise. Party sticks his head out, then figures at if no one saw his bright red mop in the hallway he was good to go. He began to slowly walk down the hallway, listening intently for any odd noise.

**BANG**

Party froze. Crouching down, he peered around the corner of the hallway. Only to see the yellow back of Ghoul standing there stock still, looking like a deer in the headlights, as he stares at the something on the floor. Party almost laughs with relief; he stands, and strolls easily out of the protection of the hallway. Suddenly, he rushes at Ghoul and collides with him, easily knocking him over. Without a second thought, Ghoul flips him over and pins him to the floor, his blaster pulled out and thrust under Poison's chin. Party’s eyes widen as he realise he maybe should have been more careful, but Ghoul’s blank eyes widen and life rushes back into them, and he laughs too, incredulous.

“You fuckwit!” shouts Ghoul “I almost killed you!” Party smirks back.

“But you didn’t”. Ghoul just sighs, then envelopes him in a hug.

“You’re a dick.” Party nods, agreeing. “You know, for a second there..”

“Yeah, I know” says Party. Neither of them want to say it. They look at each other, grinning, then Ghoul’s face falls. He runs his hand through his hair, a sign Party can always recognize as a distressed movement. “What?” asks Poison. Ghoul suddenly avoids his gaze.

“Sorry” he whispers.

“What!” shouts Poison. He no longer cares about waking the dracs. But Ghoul doesn’t have to say anything, because the blond figure on the floor behind him fits the rest of the pieces together. Party drops to the floor in a wordless cry, his hands roaming over Kobra’s body as he tried to rouse him.  
“Please” whispers Party. “Come on. I can’t do this without you. Kobra, please, I need you, wake up, come on, come on, COME ON!” Ghoul stands there wordlessly as Party frantically tries to rouse his brother, but he starts as one of the dracs arm’s move.

“Party” says Ghoul, but Party doesn’t hear him.  
“Party! We have to go! Now!” The dracs are starting to move, some are sitting up – Ghoul realises they have maybe thirty seconds before they’re both dead.  
“Shit” mutters Ghoul. He grabs Poison. “Come ON!” Party grabs Kobra, refuses to leave him, but Ghoul hoists him up from under his arms and half drags him out the door to where their car is waiting.  
Party’s kicking, screaming, fighting Ghoul’s grip, but stops dead when they see the motionless figure lying face-up on the hood of the car, and then it’s Ghoul racing forward, dropping Poison and shaking Jet Star, banging his head against the spider emblazoned on the front of the vehicle.  
Without thinking, Ghoul grabs Jet and hauls him into the back of the bar, and shoves him in the back seat, where his head lolls against the headrest. Turning around, he realises Party’s lunging at the door, trying to get back to Kobra, but the dracs are full up now and some are reaching for their blasters. Poison stops short of the door, as if he’s only just realised how impossible the situation is. He’s refusing to leave, he can’t leave Kobra, but he can’t stay with him either. Ghoul jumps in the front seat and tries to ignore the fact that he’s just shoved his _dead?_ best friend into the backseat.

“Party! NOW!” hollers Ghoul as he starts the car up – he hasn’t driven in a while, it’s usually Poison’s job, but he doesn’t think he’s in any shape to drive right now. Ghoul shoves the passenger door open, then begins to reverse out, pausing only as Poison, finally convinced there’s no way he can fight his way through that many dracs, launches himself into the front seat. Ghoul revs the engine, and speeds off in what he hopes is the direction of the tunnel.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lights of the tunnel are sporadically illuminating their faces in the car. Poison’s looking out the window, uncaring, and Ghoul’s staring straight ahead, refusing to concentrate on anything but the bare road. The light’s keep flickering; grey, yellow, grey, yellow, and the killjoy’s are sitting in dead silence.

 _Dead._ thinks Ghoul. _Amazing. That’s what I think of now._

An overturned drac lies in the middle of the road, it’s motorbike half crushing it, and Ghoul only just manages to swerve into the devoid left lane and avoid it, and Jet’s body goes flying, making a dull thunk in the side of the car. Ghoul winces, but Party doesn’t even look like he noticed. Ghoul prepares to do the same, until a familiar voice rises up from behind Ghoul:

“What the fuck? What happened?”


	3. Party in the bunker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. D tells a story

“… And you’re here with me, Dr. Death Defying. Kick back and relax, ‘cause it’s time for my a personal favourite of mine, _“the true lives of the fabulous killjoys.”_ That’s right, you heard me. You’re listening to the only man alive who knows the full story of these guys, so I suggest you turn up the volume out there, and try not to get ghosted 'till I get to the end of the story”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mikey Way woke up with a start. His brother was above him, already climbing down the bunk–bed ladder and shrugging on his blue jacket.

“Come on Mikes” he says, pulling the door open. “You know the others won’t even hear the alarm”. Mikey sighed. He hated practice alarms; if the nuclear blasts were going to kill him, he doubted the shelter would stop it. Groaning, he grabbed his phone and headphones off his bedside table, and stuffed them into his back pocket. He kicks one of his socks out of his way absentmindedly, then pulls on his boots and follows his brother out the door and into the hallway. Already other guests were flooding out of their room, all trying to reach the bunker in time. Gerard ignored them, and banged on the door opposite, it making a hollow thud on the cheap wood.

“Guys! Come on, get up, I can’t believe you’ve slept through this!” Gerard kicks the door, when it’s quickly opened by Ray, who’s standing there fully clothed, shoes on and everything.

“We’d be leaving, except someone won’t get up” Ray glares pointedly at the mound of yellow bedsheets on the top bunk, where the only part of Frank that can be seen is his left foot poking out.

“Go away” Frank moans; “It’s just a drill, they don’t even check if I’m there”. Gerard rolls his eyes and grabs Frank’s foot and pulls him out of the bed, his body falling a good three feet before hitting the floor with a thunk.

“If it was a real drill, you’d be dead – and funnily enough, we’re trying to stop that happening”. Gerard yells, ignoring Frank’s protests. Frank just groans on the floor, refusing to move. Mikey grabs his boots from behind the door and throws them at him.

“We’re leaving” he tells Frank. “Now get up!” Mikey strides straight out the door, and Ray follows behind, and the hallway is completely deserted except for a few doors hanging open. Frank doesn’t say anything, but allows Gerard to haul him up and they follow the other two.  
Heading down the stairs towards the bunker, Ray turns to say something to Frank, only to be stopped short by seeing a small girl with curly, dark hair, standing in a corner looking mildly upset and bewildered. 

“Hey” says Ray, nodding at the girl. They all turn around and stare. None of them are very good with kids, except for maybe Ray, who is nudged by Mikey to go talk to her.  
“Um, hi” says Ray, edging closer. “I’m Ray – are you ok?”  
The girl looks at him, and some relief washes through her eyes.

“Yeah” she says “but I don’t know where to go - I can’t find my parents” Ray looks around uncertainly and shrugs.

“Maybe you should come with us then, they’ve probably headed down towards the bunker already.” The girl nods, and as Gerard starts moving again, she confidently walks between Ray and Frank, who’s looking highly amused at the fact that the girl is completely unflustered by the serious amount of tattoos on his arms – in fact, she takes his hand, and the group continue to jog lower and lower down the stairs, the alarms deafening them.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You sure this is the right bunker?” asks Frank. They’ve made it down the stairs, but the bunker’s locked, and no amount of knocking will open it. There’s no one around, the entrance room is dusty, and it doesn’t look as though a hundred people just ran through it.  
_Enter passcode_ is written below a touchpad to the right of the steel door, and Mikey’s about to try it when suddenly the alarms get louder. 

**Warning. This is not a drill. Warning. Possible nuclear impact in t-minus 2 minutes. Warning. All unprotected parties should now make their way to the bunker. Warning.**

Ray looks around nervously.  
“That’s not good” he states. Gerard pounds on the door now, but it’s definitely not opening.

**Warning. Possible nuclear impact in t-minus 90 seconds**

“Shit!!” yells Frank. “It’s fucking real!” They’re all shoving at the door now, pleading for it to open, but their attempts are fruitless.

**Warning. Possible nuclear impact in t-minus 50 seconds**

“We’re at the wrong bunker” mutters Gerard, and Mikey has a sinking feeling he’s right.  
“How the hell can there be a wrong bunker!” shouts Ray.

**Warning. Possible nuclear impact in t-minus 20 seconds**

The girl’s clutching at Frank’s arm, looking scared at all the alarms and yelling.  
“What’s that?” she asks, pointing at the keypad. Frank stares at it, then shoves Mikey out of the way.

**Warning. Possible nuclear impact in t-minus 15 seconds**

Frank’s grabbed the keypad, and wracks his brains for any possible mention of a bunker passcode. Nothing.

**Warning. Possible nuclear impact in t-minus 10 seconds**

Frank stares at it. Nothing. Nothing. In a final attempt he types in the numbers “1-2-3-4.” Nothing.

**9**

“It’s not working” shouts Gerard. Frank looks around frantically, for anything.

**8**

They shove at the door again, but it doesn’t budge.

**7**

“You have to press enter!” howls Mikey.

**6**

Frank presses enter, and miraculously, the door clicks.

**5**

Gerard slams the door open, and they all clamber in, falling onto the floor on top of each other in their rush.

**4**

The door hisses shut behind them, and the semi-dark lights flick on, illuminating the empty bunker.

**3**

Gerard grabs Mikey, and they stare at each other fearfully. The girl’s lying half on top of Frank, and Ray’s trying frantically to lock the door, when metal bars shoot down and make a hiss, sealing them in.

**2**

The door locks. The girl buries her head in Frank’s neck, and Ray dives for the ground.

**1**


	4. Tunnel pot-shots

Ghoul yelps, and the car swerves into the opposite lane as he cranes his neck around to face the obviously living killjoy in the backseat. Jet Star’s body has fallen in the gap between his seat and the back of Poison’s, and he’s sitting there rubbing his head confusedly. Ghoul’s about to open his mouth and explain when Party interrupts: 

“We’ve got company”.

Ghoul adjusts the review mirror (the side mirror was blasted off by a drac a couple months back) and sees Party’s right. Six dracs are in pursuit, and with their more powerful bikes they’re gaining rapidly.

“Shit” mutters Party. Ghoul looks at him and realises his blaster’s gone; they must have left it behind at BL/ind. 

“Swap” says Ghoul, and he shifts over at the same time Party leans over and puts his foot on the gas, so suddenly Ghoul’s awkwardly climbed into the back with Party driving. Poison’s definitely a better driver, but if it came down to it Ghoul would swear up and down he was the better shooter. Party disagreed, but the numerous bets over the years between Jet and Kobra hadn’t solved the competition. Sticking his head out, Ghoul aims, fires and hits a drac before it even knew it was coming.

“Oh yeah! Take that Poison!” Ghoul shouts over the roars of the engines in the tunnel, but Party keeps driving wordlessly, and Jet shoots a worried glance at him before turning his attention back to the road. The second drac gets in close, so close that Jet could reach out and grab him if he wanted to, but Poison slams him between the tunnel wall and the car, giving Jet only a moment’s notice, shouting _dive!_ at him before he hit the brake. The third drac, too close behind the second, isn’t able to avoid the overturned bike and he falls and overturns easily. 

By the time the light of the end of the tunnel is visible only one drac remains, and Ghoul gets it with his third shot, an easy smile playing across his face. Jet falls back into his seat with a sigh, his eyes closing. Poison just keeps driving and eventually the tunnel ends, with the Killjoy’s coasting out into the day's morning rays. They head north this time, away from their last settlement; Ghoul guesses that walking in on Dr. D might be Poison’s plan, and he’s proved right when Party begins to head North East after the final post. 

They pull up to the settlement, and to the untrained eye it appears completely abandoned. Jet opens his eyes right away, and jumps out of the car easily. Ghoul follows him, grabbing his blaster in case Dr. D’s hideout ends up being a drac-infested trap. They walk on in, and it’s stone empty; Jet isn’t deterred though, he grabs the secret tile in the wall and sure enough, Dr. D’s radio kit is hidden inside.

“He’ll be back” says Jet confidently. Then, almost simultaneously, the two Killjoy’s realise their leader isn’t with them. They walk back outside, the dust and hot temperatures hitting their eyes. 

About two hundred metres away, Party’s sitting at the base of a hill looking away from the diner, all but invisible except for his red hair against the brown of the dirt. He’s just lying there, staring back at where they came from, and his fingers are erratically tracing patterns in the dirt.

“What’s he doing” mutters Jet, stepping forward to go join him. Ghoul puts his arm out and stops him.

“Don’t” he says. He’s just realised what Party must have known ever since Jet woke up, and hadn’t said anything the whole journey, not until he got the other two out alive. Jet looks confused, and Ghoul elaborates;  
“If you just woke up, and I woke up, and Poison woke up, what do you think happened to Kobra?” And the implication hits Jet, his eyes widening as he realises just where they had left Party Poison’s brother. 

“You mean..?” Ghoul nods.

“Yeah. I reckon he woke up too. Except he wasn’t in the back of a car…” 

_He was surrounded by dracs_

escapes unsaid on Ghoul’s tongue as the two Killjoy’s look hopelessly at Poison, who was lying on his back uncaring in the dust, allowing all the rage and hopelessness and the voice that was shouting _you left him there!_ over and over to just consume him, until he was sobbing into the dirt as he came to the full understanding that he had just abandoned his brother right in the midst of their worst enemy.


	5. Kobra

Kobra Kid wakes up with a stinging pain in his abdomen, and cries out involuntarily as his legs are kicked out from under him, only to feel like both his arm muscles are being ripped out of their sockets as they’re forced to take on his body weight. His eyes fly open, and he looks wildly around as he realises his arms are fastened above his head, and his feet scrabble to stand up again. His eyes finally focus on the man standing in front of him, and then it takes everything in Kobra to avoid flinching. Korse is standing in front of him with two dracs on either side, and he’s almost laughing.

“Hey Kobra” says Korse, almost purring with delight. Kobra just stares at him, completely incapable of any sort of response. It’s silent for two or three minutes, with Kobra refusing to look away.

“You know…” Korse finally says, stepping closer. “I always thought it would be Ghoul I’d get first. He’s pretty careless for a Killjoy. Or even Jet star, you know? But you! I just can’t believe Poison would leave you behind!” 

In a daze, Kobra can only pick up that Korse hasn’t got Party or any of the others somewhere in a different room. Kore nods at one of the dracs behind him, who comes forward and begins to try and feed Kobra water, but Kobra isn’t having any of it and he tries to kick the drac, and when that fails, he flails around and manage to head-butts the water it’s holding, showering the drac in spray. Kobra pants a little; he’s thirsty, but who knows what they’d put in the water. Korse just sighs, and turns away to the entrance of the small room to an intercom, where he politely asks for more water to be delivered to the bunker. 

“There’s no point fighting; you’ll be here for maybe two weeks” he explains to Kobra cheerfully, and Korse inwardly smiles at the look of confusion on Kobra’s face; the standard practice for captured killjoys is torture for information, then a quick execution in the square for all of Battery City to see. 

“See, we know Party Poison. And you know him too. What do you think he’s gonna realise when everyone else wakes up? He’s going to come running straight back into this cell, and we’re going to be here all ready”. 

Kobra’s eyes widen at the implication, then the sheer force of Korse’s plan hits. Party won’t come alone – he’ll bring Ghoul, Jet, and anyone else he can find. Half the Killjoys alive will be wiped out.

“I suggest you do eat and drink” Korse says, and at that Kobra clamps his mouth shut.

_Fuck you Korse. You think I’m going to let you lure my brother in?_

Korse shrugs. 

“We’ll get everything into your system anyway.” 

At that moment another draculoid walks into the room with a trolley. On top is a small portion of some sort of mush, a glass of water, and, on the second tray, a feeding tube. Kobra’s eyes widen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far, and to you lovely people who've commented (you've kept me going!) I haven't got a whole lot of internet at the moment, so i'll update when i can.


	6. The best secret keeper in the zones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! Enjoy

“And that’s where the Killjoy’s stayed. Locked in that vault for months. I don’t know anyone who knows how or when they got out, but I’m guessing it wasn’t good. To continue this story, you’d have to ask one of the Killjoy’s yourselves; but let’s keep it real here. The last time someone asked, Jet had to stop Ghoul throwing them out of the car. So I suggest...” 

Show Pony burst into the room, waving frantically and pointing at himself. Dr. D leant back in his chair and drew his eyebrows together.  
Show Pony points at himself, then the radio, then mouths a few indecipherable phrases. Dr. D looks even more confused. The same thing again; he points at himself, then the radio, then mouths a sentence or two. Eventually Dr. D just gives up and looks resigned, making a flippant gesture at Pony before turning back to his radio set. 

“Sorry about that, runners, my friend here seems to think –

Pony rolls his eyes and walks over, pressing a button on the radio set that plays a song. Once the song is playing, Dr. D almost explodes with impatience.  
“What!?!” he shouts. Pony’s grinning now, and fell back into the armchair behind him. Dr. D sighs. Show Pony is the best secret keeper in the zones. He’ll never get anything out of him. He watches Pony for a second, fingers drumming on his armrest, then gives up and grabs a book of one of the shelves. Pony makes a noise, and D looks up. Having given up on the rudimentary sign language, he’s pulled a dirty notebook out of his back pocket. D eyes it curiously, but doesn’t say anything. Paper’s precious in the zones. If Show Pony’s writing it down, it must be important. Whatever it is. 

After thirty seconds, Pony hands over the notebook before dodging any eye contact and busies himself with cleaning his gun. Carefully opening the notebook, D flips to the latest page. In the smallest writing possible, Pony’s written what looks like an essay. But all D can see is the first sentence.  
“You know what happened??”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to make Show Pony mute in this one (it'll make sense in a bit). Hope you liked it, already writing next chapter!


	7. A Party with Pony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Pony knows the Killjoys

Of course Show Pony remembers when he’d first met the Killjoys. He’d only just got out of Battery City, running from the dracs that had cut out his tongue. He’d been stumbling for miles, and the dust just kept going. He’d fallen over eventually, giving up. There was no water, no food, no runners and no Killjoys. Show Pony had decided then that that was it.  
He’d foolishly followed the fairytales, hoping that someone else like him existed. So far he had been proved wrong, and he was the only one in the world who didn’t buy into the idealistic voice of BLI. He didn’t know how long he lay there, bleeding slightly and staring at the stars (he had never seen stars either, there was too much artificial light in the city). All he remembered was that it got cold. Intensely cold. His body had given up on shivering, and he vaguely knew he was slipping out of reality when the man found him. He remembered a yellow jacket bending over him, heard the muttered

_Shit_

as the guy stooped to pick him up, grunting as he propped him over the back end of a motorcycle. Pony could only gasp as he tried to breathe through the blood, and the man had clambered onto the motorcycle in front, clasping Pony’s hands around his waist and kicking the bike into gear. He stayed conscious only long enough to wonder at the brightness of the jacket, and as he tried to follow the low beam of light at the head of the bike, his eyes gave up, and his head lolled forward over the biker’s shoulder. 

\-----------------

He woke up to a guy poking around in his mouth, and as his eyes tried to focus he reflexively bit down hard, and the guy stumbled back, yelling in a string of curse words, half of which Pony had never heard of before. Another man, with the reddest hair Pony had ever seen, came running through a door, and laughed when he saw the first man shaking his hand and muttering. 

“What?” the first guy said defensively. “He bit me!” 

“That’s what happens when you poke around in people’s mouth!” said the second one, still laughing. “We said not to”. The first man was still waving his hand around.

“I was just trying to help!” The redhead rolled his eyes.

“Go find Ghoul, he was in the city last. I’ll watch him”. The first man nodded, and walked out, leaving the redhead alone. He turned around, looking out the window, and it was then Pony realised he was restrained, and suddenly his panic level increased tenfold.  
Desperately he started twisting, the rope around his waist slipping off with ease, and just like that he was standing. His feet scraped, and the man at the window turned quickly, but not fast enough. Show Pony was on him, going for his eyes and neck just like his sister had showed him, punching, kicking, scrabbling, paying no attention to the door behind him until out of nowhere a boot came flying, making impact with Pony’s stomach and rolling him off the first man.

Before he could react someone was on him, and even though he was bucking, squirming, the man had him effectively pinned down in about a second. His left arm was freed, and Pony was about to make good use of it when the other man’s free arm was jammed straight into his throat. As he struggled to breathe, he gasped as he heard the scrape of a knife, then felt it dug roughly under his neck. He stopped wriggling, finally taking the chance to get a good look at his opponent. The man above him was small, sure, but his face was about five centimetres from his own, his long, dark hair so close it was tickling Pony’s face. Without moving away, the man spoke.

“Who the fuck are you?”

\-----------------------------------------------

He was tied up again, and now he was faced with two men staring at him, the dark haired guy pacing behind them, and the redhead one he’d attacked lying unconscious in a chair next to the pacing guy. Every so often the short one would stop, bending down to check he was alright, checking his pulse and listening for breathing.

“He’ll be fine, Ghoul” said one. Ghoul didn’t say anything, but alternated between glaring at Pony and looking worriedly at the man on the ground.  
The yellow jacket finally stepped forward.

“Hi” he said. “I’m Kobra – that’s Jet, the one you bit; Ghoul-” here he waved at the short one, still pacing “and Party is the one you knocked out.” Pony just stared confusedly.

“Do you want to talk?” asked Jet, after a moment. Pony drew his eyebrows together in realisation. They had been waiting for him to talk, they didn’t realise he couldn’t. To prove his point he coughed, allowing blood to come out, and he spat it onto the ground. Jet let out a soft “Oh” of realisation, and Ghoul looked up.

“What?” he asked.

“He-you can’t, right?” Jet said, directing his question at Pony. Pony shook his head, and opened his mouth. “Dracs?” asked Jet carefully. Pony nodded. Kobra just looks confused.

“Want to explain?” he mutters to Jet. 

“Shake your head if I’m wrong” he said, looking at Pony; “but you had information right? They wanted to stop you telling anyone?”. He looked to Pony for confirmation, but Pony just nodded. 

“That doesn’t change anything” said Kobra confusedly. “Can’t he just write it down?” Pony shook his head again.

“You can’t write, can you?” states Jet tiredly. Pony just looks at him, then eventually shakes his head.

“Why can’t yo-” Jet cuts Kobra off, approaching Pony. Pony looks at him warily, but lets him undo the belt holding him to the chair, and steps back. Neither of them move until Jet speaks.

“He doesn’t know who we are. He’s just trying to – what are you trying to do?” Pony looks around, and sees a pencil tucked behind a can. He points at it, questioning. Jet nods, and gives it to him. Wordlessly, Pony draws a spider on the back of his hand, then holds it out, displaying it to Jet. Suddenly Jet laughs. Kobra just looks even more confused. 

“Idiot” said Jet. “We _are_ the Killjoys.”

\----------------------------------------------------------

Party woke up later, and Pony walked in on him and Ghoul laughing together and eating power pup in one of the rooms. Ghoul immediately sobered up, but Party just grinned, and patted the space of ground next to him.

“Relax” he said to Ghoul, but he just shrugged. Party rolled his eyes. “Sorry” he sighed “you won’t get to see _Fun_ Ghoul now for a few days”. He bumps Ghoul’s shoulder slightly, and a ghost of a smile appears on his face. Satisfied, Party returns to look at the man? _Teenager, really he thinks_ – in front of him.

“Where are you from?” he asks. Pony takes his arm, and ignored Ghoul’s eyebrows closing together, and on the back of Party’s wrist he draws buildings with his finger, then looks up to check Party understands. 

“City?” he asks. Pony nods. “You left because the pills weren’t working?” Pony shrugs noncommittally. Party looks confused.  
“What then?” he’s interested, Pony can tell. So he sits back and grins, and points between the two of them, then zips his lips.  
“What?” asks Party. He does the same gesture again, but Party still doesn’t get it. Finally Ghoul speaks up, muttering.

“He says--” here Ghoul coughs, a great big rasping cough that makes Pony realise Ghoul must be sick, like really sick. It takes him a minute to recover, his chest spasming for a few seconds. “He says he’ll tell us his story, if we tell him his”. And Party looks at Show Pony. And Party nods. 

\-------------------------------

It was a week later, and Pony still wasn’t sure where he stood with the other killjoys. Out of all of them, Jet was the easiest by far to read, and he would laugh and smile a lot, handing Pony the pencil whenever he needed it. Kobra just nodded at him, but he wasn’t around very often; his motorbike would usually vanish over the horizon by dawn, and wouldn’t return until dusk.  
Long before nightfall though, if Kobra wasn’t back, Party would be outside, waiting, with Ghoul left inside keeping Pony company. 

It was Ghoul that confused Pony the most. Party was predictable; you knew what he didn’t like, who he was protective of, but Pony didn’t understand Ghoul. Sometimes he’d be talking, laughing at something Party would have said, but sometimes his face would turn blank, glassy, until Party would hold him, let him collapse before he’d return to being himself. Pony wasn’t used to it; he wasn’t used to being around people whose emotions could change at the drop of a hat. 

He’d come across Jet once, holding a photograph in his hand of a young girl. Unthinkingly he had asked who it was by drawing a question mark in the air and pointing, before realising that the answer probably wasn’t good. Jet had smiled though, and obligingly explained.

“That’s Gracie” he said. “She’s still alive, don’t worry”. Pony had smiled in relief, then looked even more confused. Jet looks around furtively, then lowers his voice.

“She lives with Dr. D – that’s where Kobra goes each morning, to visit her and to trade for medicine”. Pony nods, then points at the ground. Jet shakes his head.  
“We don’t know if it’s contagious, what Ghoul’s got. Party won’t leave him, and neither will I, but Ghoul refuses to stay with Grace in case it is”. Here, Jet’s eyes softened.

“He’s terrified he’ll make her sick”. Pony just nods. He understands that. “Party’s too afraid to leave Ghoul, and I’m the doctor, so Kobra goes.” Pony remains silent, and Jet seems to like to keep talking, to spill his secrets to someone who doesn’t seem to judge.

“He saved her once. Ghoul. They were out, just them” Pony wonders briefly were the others were, but Jet doesn’t say. “the dracs, they caught up, fired a missile and just kept going. The scar on his face is from when he lay over her, protected her.” Pony can imagine it, can see the fierce look on Ghoul’s face as he would see the rocket approaching, and pushing the girl to the ground, begging her to lie still so he could try to save her.  
“He gave her his mask, too, so she could breathe. It was just him for hours, lying in the desert as the dust settled. Later she saved him too, ‘cause the debris in his face didn’t stop the bleeding and by the time the explosion stopped he was unconscious. Gracie told me about it later, said he had just become limp and she couldn’t push him off, she just had to wait. She pulled herself out, then – and I couldn’t believe this part – she shot a lone drac with Ghoul’s gun, and took its motorbike – that’s where we got Kobra’s – then pulled him on and drove back. She collapsed when she got back, and I remember the look on Party’s face when they drove up. He’d been so worried, and Ghoul – I mean he’s a great up close fighter – but he’s so small. Ever since he’s been sick, and he’s scared Grace’ll get it too.” 

Pony nods, and later he takes note of the big scar stretched across the right side of Ghoul's cheek to the edge of his mouth, and he learns to look differently at Ghoul from then on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i haven't updated in a while - let me know what you think. I think i'm gonna go back to the present day for the next chapter :)


	8. I'd follow you anywhere

The door of the shack slams open, and Show Pony and Dr. D both reflexively reach for their blasters, then relax when they see it’s just Fun Ghoul. Show Pony’s face almost splits in half with his smile, and he’s up and enveloping the Killjoy in a hug. Ghoul yelps.

“What? Why am I getting hugged? D?” Pony stops, looks at him seriously before shaking his head and making a finger gun and aiming it at Ghoul.

“Yeah, well done, I’m not dead”. He rolls his eyes, then looks out the door quickly. “D, we need your help.” The doctor looks at Ghoul, raising his eyebrows as a response. Ghoul sighs, opens his mouth, when Pony sees the Trans AM pull up outside. Ghoul must have ridden the motorbike, he realises.

_Why?_

Before he could ask, Jet and Party come through the door. Jet nods at Pony, but Party completely ignores him, going to straight up to D and talking before anyone can get a word in.

“We need reinforcements” he said, his face tight. No hint of any laughter today. Pony looks around, wondering who’s missing, and everything clicks. He moves towards Jet, already reaching for his pencil. On his arm he writes the letter K, then a question mark. Jet takes a shaky breath.

“No, see Pony, we all woke up but he wasn’t in the car, and now he’s-” Party whirls around, stalking straight up to the two of them.

“Don’t say it” he whispers. “If you say it I swear to god I’ll go alone”. He turns back to the doc, continues muttering to him in hushed undertones, and Pony looks at Jet uncertainly, expecting to see some form of anger – he’d never seen Party talk to any member of the Killjoys like that before. Jet just shrugs. 

“Look, we need people to help. Resurrection day’s in about a week, and we think that’s the best time to go get him. Often they---” Jet paused, swallowing nervously. “they make examples”. Pony just points at himself in response and nods. Jet smiles. 

“Thanks man.”

\-----------------------------------------------

Ghoul’s still sitting out the front, waiting, watching. He’s scanning the horizon for drac lights, but he has a bad feeling that they’re not looking anymore. They’re waiting. Jet had told him before that he’d only see Party’s face like this once, when Gracie came into sight with him unconscious on the motorbike. He’d woken up to Party shaking him, screaming his name, and when his eyes had opened he’d almost sobbed with relief, soaking Ghoul’s jacket. Ghoul knows how Party operates – he goes calm, and suddenly it could be a different person, a person you couldn’t reason with or make laugh or who would draw you without you realising. 

_The poison side of Party Poison, you could say,_ Ghoul thinks with a chuckle.

A second later the door bursts open, Party Poison striding through the desert, rage etched across his face. Ghoul sighs and stands up, preparing to follow him, when Dr. D wheels out.

“We’d be risking more than we’d save! I’m sorry, Gee, but-” Poison whirls, and starts running at D, and Ghoul only just manages to get in between them before he starts shouting

“Don’t call me that! I’ll get him back, _fuck you_ ¸ I will take _every_ drac and scarecrow and man out before I leave, just wait! I swear, the amount of times I have saved your ass--” 

Poison is still howling as Ghoul pulls him away to the other side of the shack, and as soon as they’re out of sight he crumples, almost making Ghoul drop him. Ghoul realises he's sobbing as he gently lowers them down, pulling Party into his chest and rocking him slightly, tucking his head under his chin. They stay like that until dusk, while Party just lets himself be protected by Ghoul’s skinny arms. Ghoul leans his head on Party’s. Eventually he says

“You know I’ll come”. Party looks up, his red hair hanging into his eyes.

“You will?” Ghoul rolls his eyes. Unbelievable. 

“Did you seriously think I’d let you go alone?” Party smiles slightly, then shuffles out from Ghoul’s arms, so he’s sitting against the shack and they’re both looking outwards towards the distant lights of the city. Ghoul leans his head on Party’s shoulder.

“I’d follow you anywhere” he tells Party.


	9. Kobra and Korse

Kobra doesn’t know how long he’s been in the cell. There’s no sunlight and the dim lights never go off. He gets fed irregularly too. There’s a steel door in the corner, and the bucket he uses as a toilet gets emptied every so often. They pulled his hands down after they’d first drugged him, but even as the feeling to his fingers had returned his brain refused to work. One time a scarecrow slapped him, bringing the world into focus for a millisecond before it was hazy again. The guy laughed.

“You think he knows? Honestly if it were me I’d rather not”. 

Kobra thinks this should feel important, but he doesn’t care anymore. Another slap, harder this time, brought him blinking into clarity. The scarecrow was only inches from his face. 

“Brown!” he crows. Kobra doesn’t get it. The scarecrow obliges and explains; he’s bored, Kobra can tell that much.

“You’re a famous criminal, man. Honestly probably one of the most famous I’ve ever seen. You know your face is on like every fifth exterminate poster? So, um, I wanted to see. What colour your eyes were. Cause the exterminate posters cut that bit out, and I wanted to know.”

Kobra’s speechless. He didn’t think scarecrows could talk, let alone experience curiosity or humour. The scarecrow stands up, muttering to himself, then looks back at Kobra.

“What?” Kobra swallows and barely shrugs. The scarecrow laughs. “You’re surprised I have feelings. Is that it?” Kobra nods. The scarecrow squats next to him. 

“We’re not all mindless drones you know.” Kobra looked at him full in the face this time, and lets the contempt show.

“Why do you work for them then?” he spits. The scarecrow laughs uneasily, then his smile abruptly fades and his eyes go dark. He gets up to leave, but just before he gets to the door he turns, and says

“because then I’d end up like you.” He slams the door behind him.

A second later Kobra’s eyes had lost focus again, and it was just easier if he shut them.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next time he woke up it was Korse two inches from his face. He straightened up, and sighs.

“Kobra Kid, you were caught in a BLI base in Killjoy colours, attempting to destroy BLI property. For the crime of being a Killjoy, you are sentenced to death by firing squad in two days. Do you have any last requests?” 

Korse looked at Kobra, daring him to move. Kobra didn’t say anything, he didn’t think he could. But for a second he held Korse’s gaze, and Korse snarled, and brought his left arm up, and made Kobra’s world black again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes i know it's really short the other one's coming soon - i'm not sure whether to put Show's story in this or add onto it at in a different part.


	10. Yellow

_Wake up_

_Wake UP_

Kobra jerks awake, and realises he’s being dragged down a tunnel by a drac on either side. They ignore him, and Kobra tries to resist, dragging his feet but he’s so weak he can barely stand up. Desperately he begins thrashing, trying to stop himself going any further towards the door at the end of the corridor, but nothing’s working. Suddenly they’re there; he’s propped against the door and one of the dracs bend down, facing Kobra.

“You don’t move, we don’t hood you.” Kobra sees the fabric in his hand and begins to panic, but he steels himself and nods.

“No hood” he whispers. “please”. The drac nods, and stands up again, and the door opens. Kobra is confronted with thousands of faces staring at him in wonder, and he gives no resistance as he’s lead to grey strip with a post at one end of it. He even lifts his head a little bit higher, and manages to jut his chin out as the drac ties his hands behind his back. The gunman is assembling now at the bottom of the stairway, piecing together the laser. Kobra looks at the sky, blue despite BLI’s revolution against colour, and tries to take solace in the fact that he and his brother are under the same one. The crowd are mumbling now, looking at him curiously. Kobra realises they’ve never seen a fabulous Killjoy in real life; but he is famous, his face is all over the exterminate posters around the city. He’d been allowed to keep his clothes, probably so he was recognisable, and his yellow shirt drifts in the wind slightly, the gaze of a thousand people following it.


	11. Detonator

They’d made the decision to bring Grace back. After all, no one else was getting sick from Ghoul’s mystery illness (which he refused to make him slow down), and the rest of them had wanted to see her. She’d bounded in, hugged Party and Jet then ran straight for Ghoul, who was on lookout and hadn’t realised she’d come in yet. 

She tackled him straight from behind, her little frame making Ghoul yelp before he had a chance to notice. He started coughing, then, and Kobra swooped down and grabbed Grace, hugging her tight. Ghoul drew back, trying to hold his cough in before running to his room. Grace and Kobra could hear his retching clearly. Grace sighed. She watched as Poison slipped into their room, quietly shutting the door behind him, and eventually the harsh sound changed into wheezes. Grace wasn’t allowed to see Ghoul after that; Ghoul refused to let her in. She had heard Party almost crying to Kobra at night though, while Ghoul was sleeping, and she caught the phrase “vomiting blood.” 

A week passed, and the others were all out finding food, and all she could hear was Ghoul coughing, coughing, coughing until she couldn’t stand it, so she crept in. He was sitting on the mattress in the corner with a bucket between his knees, his eyes half delirium. He looked up at her all hazy.

“G?’ 

He looked much thinner than Grace had ever seen him, and he had a desperate sort of sense around him. She approached cautiously. Ghoul tilted his head.

“Don’t- don’t be sad” he whispered. “Don’t forget me though, ok?” Grace nodded. “Falling in love will kill you” he mumbled. But then he chuckles. 

“We wanted to change the world, remember? And we had… had a death wish. Wanna try, wanna try, wanna try?” he giggled, almost, and Grace just stood, watching sadly. He fell asleep, but she stayed, and the cracks of dawn began to trickle through. His eyes opened again, but they were clear.

“Grace” he tried to shout. “No, leave, _leave ___” Grace stood up, half terrified of the blood encrusted figure. He reached out towards her and she ran, ran out of the diner, away from Ghoul who wasn’t Ghoul, away from his sickness and his fever, and straight into the arms of the dawn drac patrol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who gets the song refs gets a high five


	12. Red

A man strides through the square, his face covered by the mouse mask, and most people shy away from his touch, as if terrified that his colour could contaminate their safe grey. He comes face to face with the dracs encircling Kobra, and the entire square is silent in their disbelief. Even Korse looks faintly shocked. When nobody moves, the man reaches up and pulls the mouse of his head. In that instant the entire BLI population sees, and yet can’t believe it. The shocking red hair is visible for all to see, and the pill stamp on the back of the jacket is clear as day. Gasps ripple through, murmurings erupt, but everyone’s eyes are fixed on Party, their curiosity getting the better of them. The clothes identified him as a killjoy, but the hair; that hair is Party’s trademark. It’s on the posters all around the city, and it sticks out in a crowd. He appears solitary, and uncharacteristically silent. The dracs appear stunned, as they let Party push them aside. Party ignores everyone, and walks towards his brother sedately, as if he has all the time in the world. Korse is standing at the other end of the firing squad, wide eyed. When Party reaches Kobra he runs his hands over his face, and gently slaps him a couple of times. To the rest of the onlookers he appears to be whispering, and although everyone is straining to hear not a sound could be heard.

“Mikey? whispers Party. “Please, little brother. Wake up and look at me”. With everyone gaping, Kobra opens his eyes, and Party smiles in relief.

“Party? No, this is what he wants, don’t--” Party ignores him, and deftly unties his restraints. As soon as his hands are released Kobra's hands fall and he almost collapses, but Party just catches him in time, and he turns and finds himself staring at the barrel of a gun. Party just stands up straighter. 

“I do really hope that wasn’t your plan, Party.” Korse says, loudly, making sure everyone can hear. He glances at Party, expecting to see something, but a hard look has set in in Party’s face.

“You can take our lives, Korse, but you can’t take our deaths.” Korse steps back, confused. Party struggles to stand upright, as he bears the weight of his barely lucid brother, but he stands strong.

“We die on our own terms. Together, and unchained. We face the burn. So here’s the thing; I came peacefully. I could’ve torn this city apart, and I bet you thought I would, but _I am not you, Korse_ ” Poison spat out the last part of his sentence, and stared Korse down. Korse laughed suddenly.

“You can’t be serious; you really believe we’d just let Kobra walk out?” Here Kobra stirred, swallowing;

“G? What’s he talking about? Why would he let me walk away?” Kobra looked between the grim face of Poison and the grinning face of Korse, and realised. “No!! No way!! Leave Gee, please, no no no no no you idiot!” But Korse nodded at two dracs, and they came up behind and held out their hands. But Party didn’t let go. Not yet.

“Is that a deal?” he asked. Korse looked between the two, Kobra with full scale panic written all over his face and Party, with his resolved calm. Korse nods.

“Deal”. Party swallows, and allows the dracs to support Kobra. Chaos is happening in the crowd, as everyone crams to see,and the entire population looks up in time to see Party Poison willingly hold his hands out to be handcuffed as the previous Killjoy is dragged away kicking and howling. Korse snaps the handcuffs on Poison himself, then marches him to the post. Kobra has gone pale, and the dracs have a hard time keeping him up. Korse pushes Party roughly up against the firing post and fastens his hands above his head. He’s unsettled though; Party isn’t showing any signs of fear, he’s not even trembling. Korse thinks this is unnatural; Party’s ignoring Korse completely, but instead watching Kobra as he’s pulled away. Out of nowhere, Korse slaps Party hard in the face, causing him to yelp slightly.

 _That got his attention_ thinks Korse grimly. Party’s now looking at Korse, but there’s still no fear. The crowd are watching, and Korse doesn’t want them to see a killjoy who’s unbeaten. It’s a bad image. So he turns, pretends to leave, before punching Party hard in the stomach. His legs crumple slightly, but he regains himself. Suddenly Korse is overcome with rage, with anger that someone he has pursued for years, who is about to die, can still not be beaten. He lets go, pounding his fists into Party who takes it all, and lets no sound out. After a minute, Korse pulls back, panting. Party’s head is lolling, blood coming out of his nose. But still he makes no noise. Korse sighs inwardly. 

“Shoot him” he says resignedly. The whole point of the stun guns was so he could truly beat the killjoys, and prove that they could be tamed. But he’d given up; the crowd were murmuring, and he should make an example. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Party begins to laugh, chuckling at Korse’s receding back. Kobra began thrashing in the dracs arms as he sees a solitary figure mount the firing podium. Barely ten paces away, there was no chance the shooter would miss. Only held back by his arms, Kobra screams his throat raw, Party faces the masked shooter without flinching, and he’s smiling. Korse sits back with dissatisfaction. The shooter lines up his shot, Kobra shouts one last time, the blaster fires and Party Poison falls to the ground.


	13. Phoenix

Party closed his eyes and waited. He knew it was cliché to close his eyes but he didn’t want Kobra to see. He wanted to go out with the whole of Battery City believing he, the infamous Party Poison, was not afraid of death. He almost laughed at them; he’d never met anyone who wasn’t secretly afraid of dying, or the Phoenix witch, or whatever they called it. He was a good actor though, and he’d be damned if he died knowing Korse had seen his panic on his face. But he’d got Mikey out, and that was enough.  
So he closed his eyes.  
And he waited.


	14. Trigger

Show Pony climbed the stage. 

Drac masks are hard to breathe in he thinks. The stale whiteness of his uniform scared him a little too; he had bad memories associated with these uniforms. The gun stayed heavy in his hand, and he checked, again, for the eighth time, that it wasn’t a full ray he’d loaded. He swallowed. The people crowded around slightly despite themselves to watch. Korse nodded at him as he strode past, and Pony lined his shot up at the distant, red-haired figure ten paces away. Party was smiling slightly, but it hurt Pony’s stomach. He knew Poison better than a lot of people. Smiles cover up fear in the desert. But he knew his job. So he looked through the viewfinder, aimed it at Party’s chest, swallowed again. And fired.


	15. Blue

Kobra’s mind was screaming. He couldn’t think, he was whirling, and all he could focus on was the single, solitary flame haired figure, alone in the square even in his death. He’s still struggling; his body was completely numb, and it took a while before he noticed the dracs holding him were talking.

“Mikey! Hold still! Christ!” Kobra barely hears him and the dracs drag him to the back of the crowd, put him in a chair. “We’ll only let go it you don’t run, okay?” Kobra stops moving in shock, he’s never heard a drac speak. As they let him go, one drac turns and speaks to the other.

“I’m gonna go get ready to untie Party.” The first drac nods as the second one weaves his way into the crowd. Kobra’s turned inwards on himself, is ignoring the rest of the world. The drac crouches down.

“Mikey? Jesus, I knew this was a terrible plan. He’s alive, Mikey! Calm down, please, Kobra, he’s fine, he’s fine” Kobra looks up, huddled against the brick, with shadowy eyes.

“He’s alive?” The drac looks around and checks no one is watching them. When he’s satisfied he pulls his mask off, allowing his huge afro to bounce out.

“Ray?” chokes Kobra, too confused now. Jet rolls his eyes.

“It’s a stunner, Kid, he’ll wake up.” 

“He will?”

“Yeah, that’s Show who shot him. But an all - out war’s about to start, we gotta go” Kobra just nods numbly and lets Jet pull him to his feet, and he hands him a ray gun.


	16. Black

Party groaned from the blaster. It had hurt, and he’d obviously blacked out. He was lying on the ground now; his hands held above his head with his head slumped to one side. But he didn’t think he was dead. He could still feel it in his stomach where Korse had hit him. He recoiled suddenly, as someone’s shadow fell over his body, but then he remembered that if he wasn’t dead, he could open his eyes. So he did. He looked up to see Ghoul kneeling next to him, with a drac mask in his hand. Without even bothering to untie Party’s hands Ghoul leant his forehead against Poison’s.

“You scared me half to death, walking off like that. I was meant to come with you!” he said, looking half angry and half relieved. Party ignored him, and looked meaningfully up at his arms, still fastened to the post. Ghoul sighed, but continued talking as he stood up and worked on the rope.

“We were meant to do this together, you shit, at what point did-” Party’s arms fell to his side, and he pulled himself up, facing Ghoul, smiling.

“At what point did you think I would be happier if you-” Party stops Ghoul midway in his sentence by grabbing him and hugging him, roughly pulling the smaller man into his chest and encompassing him, protecting him from the chaos around. And for a moment that’s where they remained, encircled in their tiny bubble. And that’s when Dr. D decided to blow up the north building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, i know, cliffhanger to cliffhanger. I'm three quarters through the idiotically long next bit, but for now enjoy the knowledge that no one's dead. Comments are amazing, thank you!!


	17. Green

Party pulled away from Ghoul in shock at the massive sound of a building falling over; this wasn’t his plan at all. Walk in, swap him for Kobra, that’d been it. He knew even as he asked Dr.D that he wouldn’t go along with it, but as Ghoul had promised to come with him Party had died a little inside. Of course he couldn’t leave him behind. But he had to. And the entire time he’d driven here he was fighting the pull that lead all the way back to the little room in the diner where Ghoul lay on their filthy mattress. As the north building collapsed Party looked around in horror, as colour began to emerge and mingle itself with the gray, in a seeming dance that just resulted in more colour. And he looked at Ghoul’s face, with all its grim determination, and he knew he had brought the desert down for him.

“You said you’re not Korse” whispered Ghoul. He smiles, but there’s no light in his eyes. “I think that’s my job”. Party’s about to plead, tell Ghoul to come back to him, when he’s shoved to one side and his head is thrown into the pole. His world goes dizzy but he sees Ghoul turn, barely able to stand up on his own, and face the advancing Korse. His edges were blurry, but he’d have to be blind to miss the murderous scowl on Korse’s face. Korse strode towards them, his gun out, and Ghoul took one look at his face and where Party was lying and he stands in front of Gerard. Entirely weaponless. It’s loud around them now, the square has erupted into a huge brawl between Killjoys and dracs, but in their bubble, it’s just Korse, Ghoul and Party. Ghoul forces himself to stand up straight and stare at Korse in the eyes. He’s defiant; unmoving. Korse smiles, then looks between Party and Ghoul, and almost laughs. Then, without any warning, he flashes forward and grabs Ghoul, turning his body towards Party and forcing him to comply by pushing his stunner into Ghoul’s chest. Ghoul wrestles for it, but Korse is a hell of a lot stronger than Ghoul. Party pulls himself up using the post, but Korse stops him.

“Any further, Party, and your _friend_ is getting shot.” Party stops, He’s not moving, but his eyes are fixed on Ghoul’s face, for any appearance of the Ghoul he loves. Ghoul catches his eye, and a ghost of a smile appears, and almost like it’s the final appearance of the headstrong, brave killjoy, he laughs. Without looking away from Party, his eyes soften into something recognizable, his finger curls around the trigger of the stunner, and Party’s mouth widens, ready to shout, his mind already howling.   
Ghoul, with the gun pointing at himself and Korse, smiles.   
And in the smallest of movements, Ghoul twitches his finger.


	18. Make some noise

Stunner’s are silent. Korse, with Ghoul on top of him, goes down easily, shot through the heart. Party moves, faster than he ever has, and catches Ghoul, pulling him away from the loose grip of Korse, and lets him collapse on top of him. Ghoul lies unmoving in his lap, his eyes open, and there’s still an etching of a smile on his face. So for a moment Party lets everything fade away, and he sits with Ghoul in his lap with his legs on either side, pulls himself against the post he was meant to get shot on, puts his arms around Ghoul and quietly, quietly, he lets his mind go.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jet Star sees it all. He’s standing across the square, and some sixth sense told him to stand up, to look and check that Ghoul made it across to Party okay. He looks just in time to see Korse grab Ghoul, and before he knows it he’s running across the square, elbowing dracs and other masked Killjoys out of the way, but he’s only halfway across when he glances up again, and this time his stomach drops. Party lunges towards Ghoul and Korse, but Ghoul spasms and falls with Korse, Party’s red hair a blur as he dives underneath Ghoul, and that’s when Jet stops. He’s marooned in the middle of the crowd, but all he can see is Party Poison move, roughly pulling Ghoul into him, and he only stops when he’s huddled under the post with the unmoving Fun Ghoul lying dead in his arms.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jet eventually reaches them. He’s the only one who’s noticed, who’s seen that the infallible Party Poison is sobbing onto the body of his best friend, and when he gets there he doesn’t know what to do. The medic in him feels for a pulse, and Jet lets that part take over, to feel for injury or even a pulse.

“Party” mutters Jet. Party doesn’t look up. His red hair hangs over his eyes, and he’s lost all expression and he’s shaking.

“Party, we-we gotta go”. Party doesn’t move. For the first time in a long time, Jet felt helpless. Korse’s body was lying about two feet away from him, but Party was entirely focused on Ghoul. A yelp from the stairs was heard, and then a shout.

“get the fuck off me I swear to hell I-” the rest of Kobra’s curses were drowned out as several dracs pinned him down. Kobra shoved one off him, and blasted the other two as he got to his feet, but his yell of surprise had pulled Poison out of his stupor. His head came off Ghoul’s chest, and his eyes were red, but his face was entirely blank. Jet stepped back.

“Jet” said Poison. “Take Ghoul”. Jet bent down and gently took the weight of Ghoul off Poison. As soon as his weight was gone, Poison stood up. Kobra stood to his left slightly, with Jet holding Ghoul on the ground on the right. The evening sun set and Poison’s head appeared almost on fire, the red bleeding down his neck. He stooped and picked up Ghoul’s fallen stunner. Beneath him in the square everyone was still fighting, Killjoy against Drac in a mess of colour. Without a word Poison strode over to Korse, and kicked him wordlessly off the platform. His body rolled easily, and landed with a thunk in the square. Like a ripple effect, the fighters looked up at Poison. A sort of intense calm was coming over his face, and Poison stared straight at where he knew the head of BL/ind stood. He bends down, and stares at a young, also red-haired Killjoy, who looks slightly petrified to be this close to the legendary Killjoy.

“Can I borrow that?” Poison asks sweetly. The Killjoy swallows and nods, wordlessly handing over a bright orange megaphone with the letters M.K emblazoned on the side. Party goes to stand up, then he looks back at the kid with sudden realisation. He bends down again. The crowd murmur.

“How old are you?” he asks the kid. He looks defiant.

“Twenty!” he insists. Party just shrugs. That’s how old he was when he left the city. Something still niggles him though; they’re too young for desert politics.

“You got a crew?” The kid nods and gestures at someone, a boy with dark hair and striped tattoos standing near.

“Ok.” said Party. “What I’m about to say does not apply to you. You’re coming with us. Got it?” The kid’s eyes widen even further and he nods.

“Get ready” Party tells him. Then he stands up.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poison puts the megaphone to his mouth. He almost doesn’t need it now, the square’s so quiet. But it’s loud, and that’s what he wants.  
“Hello BLI!” he shouts. “I was peaceful. I was gonna get _shot_. But you know what? I’m gonna fuckin’ burn this place to the _ground_ , you hear me? Who’s with me?” A grumble comes up from the square.

“I said” shouts Poison. “Who’s with me?!” The square howls now, and the dracs begin to back away. Finally, Party Poison smiles. It almost resembles the one Ghoul made, five minutes earlier.

“Killjoys!” he pauses, lets the dracs see what’s about to come but it’s too late. “Make some NOISE!” The square explodes, Killjoys howl, and BLI begins to implode.


	19. spectacular/fabulous

Poison turns and begins to walk back towards his crew. He doesn’t check to see if the two strays are following him, he just keeps going. Kobra’s already disappearing ahead; gone to get the trans-am ready.

“Give me Ghoul” Party says. Jet reluctantly hands him over, and starts moving. He stops when he realises Party isn’t coming. He jogs back.   
“Party” he says. “the car’s that way”. Party shakes his head.

“I’m done” he whispers. Jet almost starts to cry.

“Don’t. Your brother needs you Gee, _please_ ”. But Party’s already shaking his head.   
“Thanks, Jet. For everything. Tell Kobra I love him. Take care of the two behind me?” Jet refuses to start bawling. He embraces the man in front of him. 

“You were spectacular” he tells Party. Party grins.

“We were fabulous” he states. Their brief smiles fade. They look at each other, and acceptance seems to pass through both their eyes. Before they separate, Party pulls out his mask from his back pocket, and holds it out to Jet. Silently, Jet takes it. Party nods. As if neither can bear it, both turn at the same time and run in opposite directions, but it’s Jet who looks back. He watches as Party disappears into the fray of fighters, holding Ghoul carefully, and Jet doesn’t move until he can no longer see Party’s red hair. With a heavy heart, he beckons to the strays, and together they run for the trans-am.


	20. Guys like us

Party stands in the middle of the gunfight, smiling as he sets the lifeless body of Ghoul down beside him. Very slowly, he pulls on Mousekat with Dr. D’s _Die with your mask on, baby_ echoing in his ears. He takes one last look at Ghoul before firing his laser once into the air. Instantly, all the Killjoys move, running from Poison and back towards the safety of the desert. Party doesn’t falter though, he stays stock still as all the dracs suddenly turn and realise he’s standing almost weaponless in the middle of the square. Party pulls a small, oval shape out of his jacket. _A helium grenade_. From her tower, the woman screams. The dracs tilt their head; at once, with the same mindset, they all dive for him. Party Poison smiles, looks at the sky, and pulls the pin.


	21. the beginning

Jet had just reached the tunnel fringe when he felt the blast. Kobra’s knocked out beside him, the two strays in the back seat. He concentrates on the road ahead. The red-haired kid’s cursing; he’s got a serious burn on his upper left arm. Without moving his eyes off the road Jet speaks.

“Do you guys have names?” The darker one spoke up.

“I’m Tyler. That’s Josh.” Jet shook his head. 

“It’s dangerous to use those names.” The strays glance at each other.

“Where are we going?” one asks cautiously.

“Dr. D’s place” says Jet. He continues driving.


	22. hell of an idea

They pull up at D’s in the late afternoon, and the sun’s almost gone. Jet, for the first time he can remember, does not turn on the radio for the names of those to be remembered. He doesn’t want Kobra to hear. As they pull in, Jet glances at Kobra. He’s awake now, but staring out the window wordlessly. Jet gets out of the car, and beckons for the strays to follow him. D meets them at the door. Jet gestures at the kids.

“Can you help these guys out?” D nods, his eyes sad.

“Will I see you around, Jet?”. Jet shrugs. He doesn’t know where he’s going. As he’s thinking he hears a motorbike being kicked into gear, and runs out to see Kobra climb onto his bike and ride out into the road. Jet doesn’t stop him. He looks at the kids.

“Good luck” he tells them. He nods at Dr. D before climbing back into the car, revving the engine, and driving into the sunset.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_That’s all for now, folks. We got four more runners to add to the list, so here’s the anthem and I hope you all knew them. For now; keep running, and die with your masks on. This is Dr. D, signing out._

D puts down the headphones and looks at the kids crashed out on his couch.

“You got a name?” he asks.

“I’m Mad Gear” speaks the dark haired one. The red head chuckles.

“Missile Kid” he says. Dr. D nods, before heading into his room.

“There’s a free diner you guys can have” he says. “I’ll show you tomorrow”. The two kids grin a bit and nod, curling up on the couch. Dr. D smiles.

 _Hell of an idea_ he thinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is. Wow. I hoped you guys liked it; i know i ended it on a kinda sad note, but i like to think they inspired a hell of a lot of people. Let me know what you think (an a high five to anyone who gets any references.) Thanks for reading; every comment and kudos makes my heart explode :) <3


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